TO THE MARET ADMISSIONS OFFICE

[Anonymous]

Let's get right to the bottom of this. Does anyone know someone who got off the waitlist? And, if so, find out if there were there a hand-written note on the original WL letter?

I actually think if the policy is in fact real, it is a nice way to distinguish between priority waitlist and long shot waitlist. It also helps parents come to terms with whether there is a glimmer of hope or to let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. I'm with the OP, Maret is toying with people and it's unnecessarily sleazy. What it says to me, who only applied for the first time this year MS (boy, 99 SSAT) is many rational, professional parents are all a little bit embarassed. I innocently mentioned to a friend that we were "waitlisted" with Maret, and that they even wrote a note. The laughter that followed and tip that this is an old ruse made me think that the practice is just not right. Also, through the tours, etc... both GDS and WIS were clear it is highly competitive and that the more you can do to boost a kid's portfolio the better so they may advocate for your applicant more effectively. At Maret we were lead around by a 16-year old girl in, I might add, an inappropriately short skirt (and I'm no prude) who wasn't even sure if they offered wrestling. She did go on about how her after school sport of riding horses at a private stable is able to count for p.e. End of the day, Maret needs to check itself. Of course they will always have plenty of students to choose from, but if this stuff keeps up it will be one obnoxious wanna be after another, with inflated sense of self-worth and how unpleasant will this gang of families be filling up space all the time? After reading through everything I'm not sure it's the type of atmosphere I'd like my child to experience day in and day out.

you must have been on one of the tours that the admission office didn't have one of the admission officers lead the tour? your friend sounds like a real 'winner' if they laugh at you. yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's get right to the bottom of this. Does anyone know someone who got off the waitlist? And, if so, find out if there were there a hand-written note on the original WL letter?

I actually think if the policy is in fact real, it is a nice way to distinguish between priority waitlist and long shot waitlist. It also helps parents come to terms with whether there is a glimmer of hope or to let it go.

On the other hand, many others (including me) think that if the policy is real, it is ridiculous and insulting. But I guess the bottom line, and the question that OP posed, is that Maret should just address whether the distinction is meaningful, or not. Otherwise, it just fuels rumor and speculation without serving any real purpose, and in the process pisses off a lot of well-intentioned parents who spent a lot of time and energy on their kids' applications to Maret.

[Anonymous]

Some other area schools could also take a page from these points. There are some other fake waitlists in the area that need to be paired down, too.

I can see that a school would want a somewhat substantial waitlist, so if, for example, an outgoing white boy they had accepted chooses to go elsewhere, then they can find another outgoing white boy on the waitlist. But at some point it becomes excessive and unnecessary, and starts to look more like stringing people along. Do they really need 5 outgoing white boys on the wait list, "just in case" four of them commit elsewhere before they get the call? Maret's not the only school that's guilty of this.

[Anonymous]

To the extent people are talking about K admissions, Maret has only about 18-20 spots. At least half of those go to sib, alums, faculty, etc. So that leaves maybe 9 or 10 spots among the hundreds applying. Out of our preschool, a friend was told there were 5 sibs applying so forget it. They were not going to take a non-sib from our school. That didn't stop us from applyinh, but I went into it expecting the odds of getting admitted were up there with winning megamillions.

In that spirit, I actually appreciate the Maret waitlist letter. We're not getting in. We may never get in, even at a higher grade. Too bad; it was our first choice for both of our children, and they know that. When we looked at it again for DC2, I was kind of hoping we would hate it on the second pass. Sadly, no. But our oldest is very happy at the school she attends, and our second is exciting to be going to the sam school as big sis. If Maret wants to tell us no in a kind and gentle way, I much prefer that. I also once spoke to the Maret admissions director about the waitlist and her explanation, which was expressed with great conviction, was that no one could reject a four year old. She should tell it to Sidwell, and she has a point. How can Sidwell pedict at age 4 who the best learners will be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some other area schools could also take a page from these points. There are some other fake waitlists in the area that need to be paired down, too.

I can see that a school would want a somewhat substantial waitlist, so if, for example, an outgoing white boy they had accepted chooses to go elsewhere, then they can find another outgoing white boy on the waitlist. But at some point it becomes excessive and unnecessary, and starts to look more like stringing people along. Do they really need 5 outgoing white boys on the wait list, "just in case" four of them commit elsewhere before they get the call? Maret's not the only school that's guilty of this.

Agreed - GDS also seems to have a BS waitlist. Everyone child I know who did not get into GDS was waitlisted. Is there anyone who knows of a child who was rejected at GDS? Maret is getting a bad rap here because of the hand written note nonsense, but PP you are correct in stating that they are not alone.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Now that the school week has started, I am truly hopeful that someone from Maret will respond to my initial straightforward questions. To recap, they were:

It is well established through this forum and elsewhere that some waitlist letters sent from your school include a "handwritten note," and that others do not. Is there a distinction between the two letters, based on whether or not they include a note? If so, what is it? And if there is no distinction, what is the explanation why some letters include a note and others don't?

With respect to those posts that have suggested things like "it's over, get over it, move on," I appreciate that. We have moved on as far as our plans for DC, and we are very excited about them. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to know the answer to my simple questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the extent people are talking about K admissions, Maret has only about 18-20 spots. At least half of those go to sib, alums, faculty, etc. So that leaves maybe 9 or 10 spots among the hundreds applying. Out of our preschool, a friend was told there were 5 sibs applying so forget it. They were not going to take a non-sib from our school. That didn't stop us from applyinh, but I went into it expecting the odds of getting admitted were up there with winning megamillions.

In that spirit, I actually appreciate the Maret waitlist letter. We're not getting in. We may never get in, even at a higher grade. Too bad; it was our first choice for both of our children, and they know that. When we looked at it again for DC2, I was kind of hoping we would hate it on the second pass. Sadly, no. But our oldest is very happy at the school she attends, and our second is exciting to be going to the sam school as big sis. If Maret wants to tell us no in a kind and gentle way, I much prefer that. I also once spoke to the Maret admissions director about the waitlist and her explanation, which was expressed with great conviction, was that no one could reject a four year old. She should tell it to Sidwell, and she has a point. How can Sidwell pedict at age 4 who the best learners will be?

Sidwell is not predicting who the best learners will be. Simply which children will comprise a particular class for a particular grade in a particular year depending on whatever factors they want to use. For everyone else they are saying please move on.

No parent tells their four year old that the child was rejected. They say things like they didn't have room or but we're so exited about this other school or we're going to move. Maret is yanking their own chain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone gleaned how many new families Maret accepted in K this year? Our DD was accepted to a school we like very much for PK but not as much as Maret...considering keeping her at her nursery school so that we can apply to Maret (and others) next year. Is this just a waste of time? We figure there must be a few open spots!

If you really do like the school where DC was admitted for PK as you suggest, DO NOT turn down the acceptance just for a chance to apply to Maret for K. If there are also other factors, then that's a different story. But as far as Maret is concerned, the consensus is that there have been years when the entire complement of 10 kids (for one gender) in K was made up of connected kids, i.e., legacies, sibs, children of faculty/staff. And say next year that it's not 10, that it's just 7 girls who are connected. You're talking about 3 remaining spots for your DD. I wouldn't play those odds if I had the choice that you have.

In general, applying to Maret at the lower grades is a waste of time for unconnected families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's get right to the bottom of this. Does anyone know someone who got off the waitlist? And, if so, find out if there were there a hand-written note on the original WL letter?

This is the best comment on the whole thread. Let's quit bullshitting around and just find a few people who were accepted to Maret off the waitlist sometime in the past 5 years. There have to be some on DCUM. For any of those people, did your WL letters not have a handwritten note? If so, then doesn't that prove the whole "special WL" thing is a phantom?

[My personal guess (pure speculation) is that there's no secret coded message in the WL letters. It's just that if a particular admissions person writing a letter happens to remember a particular kid, she might include a personal note. No big deal, and kind of a nice personal touch in a hard situation. The only thing that makes it ugly is that some people want to ascribe secret motivations and judgments. That's all just my own speculation though, so not really determinative.]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Now that the school week has started, I am truly hopeful that someone from Maret will respond to my initial straightforward questions. To recap, they were:

It is well established through this forum and elsewhere that some waitlist letters sent from your school include a "handwritten note," and that others do not. Is there a distinction between the two letters, based on whether or not they include a note? If so, what is it? And if there is no distinction, what is the explanation why some letters include a note and others don't?

With respect to those posts that have suggested things like "it's over, get over it, move on," I appreciate that. We have moved on as far as our plans for DC, and we are very excited about them. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to know the answer to my simple questions.

I totally understand the frustration, but posting it in this forum just seems silly. Call the Admissions office and ask them directly, or ask for a meeting to discuss your child specifically. A simple, "we love the school and were wondering if there is anything you can tell us about our child's chances," is a perfectably understandable inquiry. Can you imagine having to figure out how many to accept, knowing that not everybody is going to come, and then how many to waitlist instead of just rejecting outright? There were over 800 applications for just 95 spots total!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Now that the school week has started, I am truly hopeful that someone from Maret will respond to my initial straightforward questions. To recap, they were:

It is well established through this forum and elsewhere that some waitlist letters sent from your school include a "handwritten note," and that others do not. Is there a distinction between the two letters, based on whether or not they include a note? If so, what is it? And if there is no distinction, what is the explanation why some letters include a note and others don't?

With respect to those posts that have suggested things like "it's over, get over it, move on," I appreciate that. We have moved on as far as our plans for DC, and we are very excited about them. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to know the answer to my simple questions.

I totally understand the frustration, but posting it in this forum just seems silly. Call the Admissions office and ask them directly, or ask for a meeting to discuss your child specifically. A simple, "we love the school and were wondering if there is anything you can tell us about our child's chances," is a perfectably understandable inquiry. Can you imagine having to figure out how many to accept, knowing that not everybody is going to come, and then how many to waitlist instead of just rejecting outright? There were over 800 applications for just 95 spots total!

Here's the thing. There is A LOT of speculation and regarding this "handwritten note" thing. It's not just me doing the speculating. I'd genuinely like for this entire community to end the speculation and have a straight answer to what should be a simple question: Is there meaning to this "handwritten note" nonsense, or not? If I were to call the admissions office, get a thorough explanation from Annie Farquhar, and relay that explanation here, who's going to believe me anyway given the anonymity and mistrust on this message board?

Also, let me be clear: I have no problem with an admissions office's practice of prioritizing some WL candidates over others internally. It is logical that they would do this. What I do find offensive is the suggestion that an admissions office would essentially send out 2 letters, one of which telegraphs "you are on the real waitlist," and the other of which telegraphs "you were rejected but we are being nice." If that's the case, the far more honorable practice would be for the second type of letter to truly be a letter of rejection. And if they just want to waitlist the larger group, they can convey preference through other, more subtle ways to families that express continued interest. Don't do it in the obnoxious manner that conventional wisdom suggests they currently do. Don't piss on my leg and tell me that it's raining.

Finally, what if the truth is that there is no distinction between the 2 types of waitlist letters? Shouldn't families who received a handwritten note know this, so that they can move on and not cling to false hope based on misinformation?

[Anonymous]

OP - Maybe you could take caller ID off your cellphone and call and ask this question and report back.

[Anonymous]

If you hold your waitlist letter up to the light, look in the lower right hand corner. If you can make out a very light, almost invisible watermark with the school seal, then these are the real waitlist candidates. If you can't see anything at all, then this is in reality, a rejection under the facade of a waitlist.

[Anonymous]

If you hold your waitlist letter up to the light, look in the lower right hand corner. If you can make out a very light, almost invisible watermark with the school seal, then these are the real waitlist candidates. If you can't see anything at all, then this is in reality, a rejection under the facade of a waitlist.

ROFLMAO!!!